Donkey Punch horror movie review

There’s this British horror movie named ‘Donkey Punch,’ that sounded interesting enough on its own – after all, I didn’t know what a donkey punch was, although when my friend said ‘Ew, how gross,’ I did simply nod my head and agree, as if I did know what it was. Okay, first of all let’s start off with explaining exactly what a ‘Donkey Punch’ is; if you thought it was an exotic drink, you’re wrong. Wikipedia describe it as the following, be prepared to be shocked...

“Donkey punch is a slang term for an apocryphal and potentially lethal sexual practice supposedly performed during anal sex. The purported practice involves the penetrating partner punching the receiving partner in the back of the head or neck, allegedly causing the receiving partner's anal passage to tense up and increase the pleasure of the penetrating partner. According to Andrea Nemerson, the sex columnist for the alt weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper, "There's no such thing as a 'donkey punch.'" Similarly, Dan Savage, the editor of the Seattle alt weekly The Stranger and author of the sex advice column Savage Love, has called it "a sex act that exists only in the imaginations of adolescent boys."

So it's a completely fictional thing – thank God for that. However, it's the central act of crucial importance in the horror movie of the same name. First-time director, Olly Blackburn, must have bought into the urban legend.

The story surrounds three ladettes (ladies who act like hooligans) on holiday in Spain, they meet four guys in a bar and decide to go back to a swanky yacht with them. The yacht is the setting. Once aboard, they all start partying, which involves, drugs, drinking and downright debauchery. Then, one of the guys, who also believes in this donkey punch thing, accidentally kills one of the ladettes while trying it out, breaking her neck in the process.

This is where the horror action starts, as the battle of men against women begins. It’s a little sexist in the way that every male on the boat pretty much wants to throw the body overboard and hide the murder, while the girls don’t. This then declines into the lot of them fighting, murdering, and descending the characters into mistrust, betrayal and bedlam.

Writer, Blackburn and co-writer, David Bloom, are able to keep the tension floating quite well, and of course, we as the audience want to see the girls fight for their friends life (even if they are ladettes.) The movie isn’t terribly original, but it does keep the viewers interest peaked, especially if you didn’t know what the donkey punch was – they got you there, didn't they?

The seven Brits are a talented and new group of actors, but none of the characters are written strongly enough for you to get to know, or bond with any of them, although you do feel moments of connection, hopefully, with the good guys.

The actual donkey punch scene is awful to watch and quite disturbing. The rest of the movie isn't really scary at all, but there are some tense scenes as the one "good girl" (she hasn't done anything wrong and is dragged along by her friends) fights to get off the boat alive.

This movie is entertaining enough, and the ending is quite edge of your seat stuff, if you care to involve yourself enough with these characters who aren’t really that nice in the first place (apart from the one.) Unexpectedly, the movie has moments of stylishness and us Brits prove that we can make a good horror as usual, not our best, but entertaining enough.